Packed courtroom breaks into loud song as pipeline protesters handcuffed, taken to jail

UPDATE: 1:01 p.m.

About 40 people broke into loud song in a jam-packed courtroom on Wednesday as a group of pipeline protesters were handcuffed and taken to jail.

“Canada is on Indian land” and “Canada has no jurisdiction” were the refrains shouted by those in the gallery as four protesters — Miranda Dick, Heather Lamoureux, Susan Bibbings and Laura Zadarozny — were taken into custody. The four were convicted in December following a B.C. Supreme Court trial on charges of criminal contempt, and they learned their sentences on Wednesday morning.

Dick, Bibbings and Zadarozny were sentenced to 28 days, while Lamoureux received a 29-day sentence — the extra day attributable to her refusal to walk under her own power to a police vehicle on the day the four were arrested at a Trans Mountain work site near Kamloops Airport.

“I commend you all for your concerns for the environment and the Indigenous issues that largely motivated what you did,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick said Wednesday in sentencing the women.

“However, you were seriously misguided in the means by which you sought to express them. In the future, I sincerely hope that these sentences will bring home to you that such illegal actions will not be tolerated.”

Dick and Zadarozny raised fists while they were being handcuffed, as did a number of supporters seated in the gallery.

Fitzpatrick tried to tell those singing to stop, but no one could hear her over the song.

Two of the four protesters slated to be sentenced on Thursday are now being adjourned, Fitzpatrick was told on Wednesday afternoon, while lawyers await pre-sentence reports. Henry Sauls and Romilly Cavanaugh are expected to be sentenced on Thursday, while April Thomas and Jocelyn Billie Pierre will return to court at a later date.

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ORIGINAL STORY: 4 a.m.

More than 30 people crammed into a B.C. Supreme Court courtroom on Tuesday as a judge was told to lock up four protesters who violated an injunction by refusing to leave a Trans Mountain work site near Kamloops Airport more than two years ago.

The Crown is seeking jail sentences ranging from 30 days to three months for Miranda Dick, Heather Lamoureux, Susan Bibbings and Laura Zadarozny.

The four protesters were convicted of criminal contempt in December following a trial in front of B.C. Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick.

Dick, Lamoureux, Bibbings and Zadarozny were arrested on Oct. 17, 2020 after police were called to an area near Tranquille Road and Airport Road, where demonstrators were blocking access to a work site gate.

Fitzpatrick ruled the four were guilty of criminal contempt for violating the terms of a 2018 B.C. Supreme Court injunction — a court order that laid out a five-metre protest buffer zone around all Trans Mountain work sites in B.C.

JAIL SENTENCES SOUGHT

On Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Neil Wiberg said he is seeking jail sentences for each of the women. He wants Dick, Lamoureux and Bibbings sentenced to something in the 90-day range and Zadarozny to serve about a month behind bars.

“Criminal contempt is a very serious offence,” he said.

“In this case, the blocking of the buffer zone succeeded in preventing a shift change and stopped the work at the Trans Mountain site.”

Wiberg said each of the four were given “every opportunity” to leave before they were arrested. Court heard they were also given repeated warnings about what would happen if they refused to leave on their own.

“In fact, over a dozen other protesters continued protesting but left the buffer zone,” Wiberg said. "They continued protesting with no consequences after they left the buffer zone.”

THREE HAVE PRIOR CONVICTIONS

Of the four, only Lamoureux is without a previous criminal conviction.

Dick was convicted in Kamloops provincial court in 2002 of mischief and intimidation, while Bibbings and Zadarozny were convicted in relation to separate highway-blocking protests they participated in while awaiting trial for the Kamloops Airport contempt charges.

Wiberg said the behaviour of Bibbings and Zadarozny while on bail calls for jail time that will make them think twice before offending again.

Defence lawyer Benjamin Isitt urged Fitzpatrick to consider jail sentences of one month or less — in line with previous sentences handed down to other protesters convicted of violating the 2018 Trans Mountain injunction.

“Since this proceeding is all about the rule of law, and how the court can preserve and uphold the rule of law, fairness both in appearance and fact is important,” he said.

"If the court in sentencing were to exceed sentences for others … we submit that would be an unfair result.”

Isitt said Bibbings is seeking a sentence of 60 days’ house arrest because of medical conditions — sleep apnea and hypertension, as well as anxiety and depression. He said her anxiety is “connected to ecological issues."

Court heard the others expect they will spend time behind bars, though Lamoureux may seek an intermittent sentence — weekend jail — in order to tend to her work responsibilities.

AN ATYPICAL DAY IN COURT

Extra deputy sheriffs were on hand in the packed courtroom for Tuesday's hearing, during which reporters were seated in the jury box to free up space in the gallery.

The hearing included a number of unusual moments. It began with about half of those in the gallery refusing to rise for Fitzpatrick when she entered the room. One man was removed by sheriffs after continually refusing to stand, though he was allowed back into the courtroom after lunch.

Later in the hearing, a supporter of the protesters showed up wearing a First Nations headdress — an apparent violation of the court's no-hat rule. He was asked to leave but later allowed to return with the headdress on.

In the hallway outside the courtroom during breaks, one supporter played a recorder. Another stood by holding an Indigenous drum. The sounds of the music and attendees talking in the hall could be heard in other courtrooms.

As Fitzpatrick returned to the courtroom following the morning break, the gallery began to sing. She immediately ordered anyone singing to be removed by sheriffs — at which point the song abruptly stopped.

“Anybody else that is going to be singing will be removed permanently from the courtroom for the remainder of the hearing,” the judge said.

"You can hopefully respect the authority of the court and the seriousness of this occasion by not doing that.”

JUDGE CALLED 'RACIST'

Two people were removed from the courtroom late in the day on Tuesday following an outburst from the gallery after Fitzpatrick corrected Isitt when he described bodies having been “unearthed" at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

“They have been?” Fitzpatrick asked.

“I stand corrected — who have been identified through ground-penetrating radar,” Isitt said.

“Potential,” Fitzpatrick replied, prompting loud gasps and jeers from the gallery.

A woman seated in the front row shouted “racist” and was told by sheriffs to leave the courtroom.

“How dare you say that,” another person yelled.

DECISION EXPECTED WEDNESDAY

Fitzpatrick is expected to deliver her decision on Wednesday morning.

Dick, Lamoureux, Bibbings and Zadarozny are not the only Trans Mountain protesters slated to be sentenced this week by Fitzpatrick. She found four others guilty of contempt, also in December, for violating the same injunction on Mission Flats on Oct. 15, 2020.

April Thomas, Henry Sauls, Romily Cavanaugh and Jocelyn Billie Pierre are expected to be sentenced later in the week.